The Alex Galchenyuk before THE Alex Galchenyuk

The name sounds familiar, but the card belies you. Before there was Alex Galchenyuk, first-round pick and promising young star for the Montreal Canadiens, there was his dad Alex Galchenyuk, a star from Belarus who spent six seasons in various North American minor leagues.

Though the elder Galchenyuk never made it to the NHL, he did play pro hockey for 21 seasons — mainly in Russia, but with stops in Italy, Germany and Switzerland. Some of the notable U.S. teams he played for were the Milwaukee Admirals and the Michigan K-Wings of the old International Hockey League.

Like father, like son…

According to HockeyDB, dad is 6’1″ and 195 lbs., while son is 6’2″ and 205 lbs. Both are left handed shots. The elder Galchenyuk was also an assistant coach for the Sarnia Sting for two seasons while his son played on the team.

The back of his 1992-93 Classic Pro Hockey Prospects card states that Galchenyuk started the 1992-93 season skating on a line with former St. Louis Blues players Steve Tuttle and Michael Mongeau, and was averaging more than a point-per-game before a knee injury sidelined him. His two seasons in Milwaukee were his best while in North America, as he scored 82 points in 77 games. His son Alex was born in Milwaukee during his time with the Admirals.

The senior Galchenyuk’s first hockey card was an insert in the 1991-92 O-Pee-Chee Sharks and Russians insert set. It pictures him with Dynamo Moscow of the old Soviet League. This photo was most likely taken during his team’s exhibition tour against NHL teams.

Alex’s dad also had a card in the 1992-93 Upper Deck Hockey set, again pictured with Dynamo Moscow. This is probably from a game in Russia, as the uniform on the player on the left seems unfamiliar, and the advertisement on the boards appears to be written in Cyrillic.

The elder Galchenyuk had two other hockey cards — one in the 1993-94 Milwaukee Admirals team-issue set, and another in the 1996-97 Madison Monsters team-issue set — for a total of five cards.

Those of you who player collect cards of the younger Alex Galchenyuk might want to also pick up the five cards of his dad, too, since they share both a name and a bloodline.